Giorgakis Olympios
Encyclopedia
Giorgakis Olympios was a Greek
armatolos
and military commander during the Greek War of Independence
against the Ottoman Empire
. Noted for his activities with the Filiki Eteria
in the Danubian Principalities
, he is considered to be a leading figure of the Greek Revolution.
, near Larissa
, on Mount Olympus
, in Ottoman-ruled Greece
. After joining the Armatolikia in the Olympus area around the age of 20, Olympios became a prominent member of the local society by protecting villages from the Ali Pasha
's raids when the powerful Pasha started expanding his authority out of Epirus
. In 1798, however, he was forced to abandon his birthplace due to Ali Pasha's hostility towards him, and fled to Serbia
, where he collaborated for some time with Karađorđe Petrović during the First Serbian Uprising
(he is known in Serbia as Kapetan Jorgać, Captain Giorgakis).
He became supporter of the ideas espoused by Rigas Feraios
pertaining to a common Balkan
revolution against Ottoman rule, and moved to Wallachia
. There, with the help of Constantine Ypsilantis
, he composed a military force of Greeks
to fight alongside the Russian Empire
in the Russo-Turkish War of 1806. After the Battle of Ostrova, he was named a Polkovnik
in the Russian Army
. Emperor Alexander I
included him to the Russian military escort during the Congress of Vienna
, where Olympios met with Alexander Ypsilantis
.
Tudor Vladimirescu
, who led the parallel uprising of 1821
. Olympios married Čučuk Stana
, the widow of Hajduk Veljko, who arrived from Serbia to participate in the Greek War of Independence as a fighter, alongside the men. They had three children: sons Milan, Aleksandar, and daughter Jevrosima.
At the beginning of the Greek Revolution, when the Eteria began its expedition in Moldavia
and Wallachia, he was appointed leader of the Greek forces in Bucharest
by Alexander Ypsilantis. When Vladimirescu distanced himself from the Fililiki Eteria, Olympios was responsible for his arrest on June 1 in Goleşti
.
He took part in the Battle of Skuleni
on June 29, 1821 where Ottoman forces chased him (along with Yiannis Pharmakis
and a small force of 400 Greeks) to the Secu Monastery in Neamţ
county where the Greeks made their last stand. Olympios died during the Ottoman attack on the monastery. His widow and children fled to Khotyn
, Russia
, where other people of the Serbian
- and Greek War, took refuge. After the liberation of Greece
, Stana and her children moved to Athens
.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
armatolos
Armatoloi
Armatoloi , were Greek Christian irregular soldiers, or militia, commissioned by the Ottomans to enforce the Sultan's authority within an administrative district called an Armatoliki...
and military commander during the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Noted for his activities with the Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria
thumb|right|200px|The flag of the Filiki Eteria.Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends was a secret 19th century organization, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece and to establish an independent Greek state. Society members were mainly young Phanariot Greeks from Russia and local...
in the Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
, he is considered to be a leading figure of the Greek Revolution.
Early activities
He was born in the village of LivadiLivadi
Livadi is a town and a former municipality in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Elassona, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 3,187 . It borders the Pieria regional unit to the northeast, and the Kozani...
, near Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
, on Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
, in Ottoman-ruled Greece
Ottoman Greece
Most of Greece gradually became part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th century until its declaration of independence in 1821, a historical period also known as Tourkokratia ....
. After joining the Armatolikia in the Olympus area around the age of 20, Olympios became a prominent member of the local society by protecting villages from the Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
's raids when the powerful Pasha started expanding his authority out of Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
. In 1798, however, he was forced to abandon his birthplace due to Ali Pasha's hostility towards him, and fled to Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where he collaborated for some time with Karađorđe Petrović during the First Serbian Uprising
First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...
(he is known in Serbia as Kapetan Jorgać, Captain Giorgakis).
He became supporter of the ideas espoused by Rigas Feraios
Rigas Feraios
Rigas Feraios or Rigas Velestinlis was a Greek writer and revolutionary of Aromanian origin, active in the Modern Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, a victim of Balkan uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence.-Early...
pertaining to a common Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
revolution against Ottoman rule, and moved to Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
. There, with the help of Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis , was the son of Alexander Ypsilanti, a key member of an important Phanariote family, Grand dragoman of the Porte , hospodar of Moldavia and Walachia , and a Prince through marriage to the daughter of Alexandru Callimachi.-The Liberation of Greece from the Ottoman...
, he composed a military force of Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
to fight alongside the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in the Russo-Turkish War of 1806. After the Battle of Ostrova, he was named a Polkovnik
Polkovnik
Polkovnik is often a military rank in Slavic countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states. However, in the Ukraine, polkovnyk was an administrative rank similar to a governor...
in the Russian Army
Military history of Imperial Russia
The Military history of the Russian Empire encompasses the history of armed conflict in which the Empire participated. This history stretches from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution , which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union...
. Emperor Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
included him to the Russian military escort during the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, where Olympios met with Alexander Ypsilantis
Alexander Ypsilantis
Alexander Ypsilantis may refer to:* Alexander Ypsilantis , Prince of Wallachia from 1775 to 1782, and again from 1796 to 1797, and also Prince of Moldavia from 1786 to 1788...
.
Greek War of Independence
Olympios entered Filiki Eteria in 1817, taking the high rank of Shepherd. He initiated many others in the Eteria, and established contacts with the Wallachian PandurPandur
Pandur can refer to:* Pandurs, Balkan Slavic guerrilla fighters* Pandur, an armoured personnel carrier:* Pandur I 6x6* Pandur II 8x8* The Sumerian term for long-necked lutes...
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...
, who led the parallel uprising of 1821
Wallachian uprising of 1821
The Wallachian uprising of 1821 was an uprising in Wallachia against Ottoman rule which took place during 1821.-Background:...
. Olympios married Čučuk Stana
Čučuk Stana
Čučuk Stana was a Serbian female hajduk and the second wife of Hajduk Veljko. She is also a character in Serb epic poetry.She was born in 1795, in the village Sikole near Negotin, Serbia to a family of Herzegovinian migrants. She had two sisters, Stojna and Stamena and later, a little brother...
, the widow of Hajduk Veljko, who arrived from Serbia to participate in the Greek War of Independence as a fighter, alongside the men. They had three children: sons Milan, Aleksandar, and daughter Jevrosima.
At the beginning of the Greek Revolution, when the Eteria began its expedition in Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
and Wallachia, he was appointed leader of the Greek forces in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
by Alexander Ypsilantis. When Vladimirescu distanced himself from the Fililiki Eteria, Olympios was responsible for his arrest on June 1 in Goleşti
Balilesti
Bălileşti is a commune in Argeş County, in southern central Romania. It is composed of seven villages: Băjeşti, Bălileşti, Goleşti, Poieniţa, Priboaia, Ulita and Valea Mare-Bratia....
.
He took part in the Battle of Skuleni
Battle of Skuleni
The Battle of Skuleni was fought on June 29, 1821 in Sculeni, Moldavia between the Ottoman forces of Sultan Mahmud II and Greek Filiki Eteria forces led by Prince George Catakouzenos...
on June 29, 1821 where Ottoman forces chased him (along with Yiannis Pharmakis
Yiannis Pharmakis
Yiannis Pharmakis or Ioannis Farmakis , born in Vlasti, Macedonia , was a Greek revolutionary leader of the Greek War of Independence, active in Wallachia and Moldavia....
and a small force of 400 Greeks) to the Secu Monastery in Neamţ
Neamt
Neamţ may refer to several entities in Romania:County* Neamţ CountyPlaces* Neamţ Citadel* Piatra Neamţ* Târgu NeamţMountain* Neamţ MountainsOther* Neamţ Monastery- See also :* Neamţu* Neamţu * Németh...
county where the Greeks made their last stand. Olympios died during the Ottoman attack on the monastery. His widow and children fled to Khotyn
Khotyn
Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the administrative center of Khotyn Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, it has a population of 11,124...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where other people of the Serbian
Serbian revolution
Serbian revolution or Revolutionary Serbia refers to the national and social revolution of the Serbian people taking place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman province into a constitutional monarchy and a modern nation-state...
- and Greek War, took refuge. After the liberation of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Stana and her children moved to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
See also
- Hadži-Prodan GligorijevićHadži-Prodan GligorijevićProdan Gligorijević, known simply as Hadži-Prodan was a Serbian voivode in the First Serbian Uprising of the Serbian Revolution, then the Greek War of Independence, against the Ottoman Empire...
, fellow Serbian revolutionary that participated in the same wars - Vasos MavrovouniotisVasos MavrovouniotisVasos Mavrovouniotis was voivode from Montenegro, who played a significant role in the Greek revolution against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.-Life:...
, fellow Montenegrin Serb revolutionary that participated in the Greek War